Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Later tonight after you go to bed, around 1:58 a.m. here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606, we will cross over one of those all important imaginary lines, the Vernal Equinox, causing the season to change from Winter to Spring and, because some church authorities so dedided, setting up when Easter will fall in a given year. Easter, a Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, falls upon the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox, which occurs later tonight. Friday afternoon the Moon passes into its Full phase, and thusly Easter is to be celebrated this Sunday, about as early as it can possibly fall. It last fell on this date in 1913 and will not again until 2160. It can also fall on March 22, having last done so in 1818 and to do so again in 2285 - all of these dates are subject to the idea that I read all the charts correctly. If I did, chances are good none of us will ever see an earlier date for Easter in our lifetimes, whether we are celebraters of Easter or not. Easter originally always fell on 14 Nisan on the Hebrew calendar, a date which falls in preparation for Passover, a day which in Christian tradition will be celebrated tomorrow. Notice the difference between the words date and day. One is unmoving, the other movable. The point of all this is to say that my posting will in all likelihood be light for the next several days, all of which are a part of Easter Week which began Sunday. Surely Barack and Hillary can give it rest for a few days as well.

Personal

Single, male, bald, overweight, early 50s, seeking . . .
Oh wait, that's goes on the other website.
How about this - never married, liberal Democrat, opinionated but generally pleasant, member of the Episcopal Church. Graduate of Prestonia Elementary, Durrett High, and Spalding University; the first two now-closed Jefferson County Public Schools, the latter a very small liberal arts college in downtown Louisville affiliated with the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
My vocation and avocation is politics. My favorite pastime is driving the backroads of Kentucky and southern Indiana, visiting small towns, political hangouts, courthouses, churches, and cemeteries.
You are welcome to ride with me sometime.

The Jefferson Davis Monument

The tallest concrete obelisk in the United States, at Fairview, on the Todd - Christian county line

Stuart Perelmuter, American playwright

Moving on from the halls of Congress to the glitter of Hollywood

Benson Creek near Red Bridge

photo by Gene Burch of Frankfort

The seal of the former City of Louisville

Now seen mostly on T-shrits sold along Bardstown Road.

The flag of the former City of Louisville

Must Reading for any politician or public servant

Most politicans never read it. That's unfortunate.

A photo showing the original Clock Tower on City Hall

The original tower was built in 1873 and destroyed by fire in 1875. This photo belonging to the Filson Club is the only known photo of the original Clock Tower.

Cuban children in Shively with the Flag of Cuba

September, 1963. The statue has since been dismantled by the City of Shively and its whereabouts are unknown. I last saw it in 2004 or thereabouts.

The United States Supreme Court

The Court faces the east front of the United States Capitol

Crossing into Paradise along the WK Parkway

Actors Theater of Louisville

housed in the old Bank of Louisville building on West Main Street

This picture is from 1975, taken at the 32nd and Portland Avenue Loop.

On the left in orange is one of the old Louisville Transit Authority busses. This one is from Route 27, then as now following along Hill Street. The one on the right represents the new color scheme of Red and White for the Transit Authority of River City, or TARC. By the way, these are GMC models affectionately known as Fishbowls.

A map of Camp Zachary Taylor

Preston Street Road is along the bottom; Beargrass Creek to the top; Eastern Parkway on the left; Durrett Lane (approximately) on the right.

The home of my step great grandmother Maggie Church

She lived here for nearly 70 years. She is the mother of my grandfather Hockensmith's half-siblings, Aunt Mildred Smith of Clarksville, Indiana and Uncle Lee Roy Hockensmith of Paducah, Kentucky

Whatever happened to ?

Sanjaya Malakar

Jesus feeding the 5000. What a picnic.

From the United Methodist Church collection of Eularia Clark

LBJ signing one of the Civil Rights Bills of the 1960s.

Mr. Gayle Shields

Earth Science Teacher, War Veteran, Extraordinary Person

The Sallie Phillips Durrett Auditorium at Louisville Male High School

Male relocated in 1991 from its Brook and Breck campus to that of my high school alma mater, Sallie Phillips Durrett High School, at 4409 Preston Highway. It has changed a lot in 30 years.

See Rock City

See Seven States. I can not tell you the number of times I've stood on this overlook searching out South Park Hill in southern Jefferson County Kentucky, to no avail

The obelisk at 7th and Main

Commemorating Richard Chenoweth's fort in Louisville, 1780.

This is the log house, built by the Howard family in 1795.

This is the building in which was founded the predecessor of my college alma mater, Spalding University. Nazareth Academy was founded here by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1814.

The Louisville Times

The final edition was published February 14, 1987, very shortly after the Bingham's sold their empire

Lady Bird Johnson

Buried 07/15/2007 in the hill country near Stonewall, Texas, alongside her husband who was a great leader of the experiment in democracy we call America

The old silos, an old Prestonia business.

The Oehrle silos were taken down a few years ago.

Parkway Field in the 1970s.

Note the ad on the wall - Parkmoor Bowling Lanes was a bowling alley on 3rd Street between the two viaducts. It had a perma-stone facade and had been rebuilt twice due to fires before finally being torn down. Like the old Parkway Field, it is now one of U of L's parking lots.

My grandfather"s favorite piece of music

"We're the Seabess of the Navy, We can Build and we can Fight! And we'll pave the way to Victory, and guard it Day and Night! And we promise to remember, the Seventh of December. We're the Seabees of the Navy, the Bees of the Seven Seas!